Costa Rica judge arrested on pornography charges

San Jose: A civil court judge in Costa Rica was arrested today on suspicion of secretly filming women using a courthouse toilet and possessing child pornography, prosecutors said.

The magistrate, identified only by his last name Hilge, is “suspected of the crimes of possessing pornographic material and producing pornography,” a statement said.

He was arrested shortly after dawn a day after a search of his car, his office and his home turned up compact disks with pedophile images and two cameras similar to one found in the women’s toilet in the courthouse.

The police were acting on a complaint by a female court employee who discovered the camera hidden in the bathroom.

Hilge is a judge in a civil court in the town of Heredia, just north of the capital San Jose. The offenses he is suspected of carry penalties of up to eight years in prison.